building in wall tank stand need some help

[spscrazy]

I am getting ready to build a stand for my 135g tank it's 72" L x 18"W it is going in a former closet in a spare bedroom and the viewing side into the living room. I have the basics on building cabinets etc but never did a inwall stand on a tank this long how many center braces do I need? I would like to have more of the back side exposed for a sump etc but need to know how far apart or how many 2x4's should I use I have a tendency to go overboard to be safe, on my last 2 cabinets I built the openings were so small that the space under the tank was almost unusable. on the top what thickness of plywood should I use (or should I use plywood?) on my 95 acrylic & my 40g breeded I used the blue sheet foam you get from lowes should I use that on top of the plywood or just use it alone or skip it altogether? any suggestions or tips would be apprieciated

 

[Planedoc]

You can build your stand with as wide of openings as you want, you just have to have beams to support the weight. I have a 4 foot opening in my 8 foot stand. I cut a 3/4 sheet of plywood into 6 inch strips. I then glued and screwed 4 sets of two pieces together to make 1 1/2 in beams. The 4 beams are 6 inches apart with a 3/4 plywood top and the blue foam. Acrylic tanks need foam. Glass tanks with a frame do not. If the bottom of your glass tank sits on the surface us foam.

Sent from my galaxy s3

 

[ReeferBob]

If you use a 2x6 as the top frame you do not need any supports along the way. I just built an inwall this way on a 72" 125g tank. I put a vertical support 18" in from each side so I would have a 36" wide opening for my 40B sump but I didn't attach the supports and I can remove them as they have no weight on them.

 

[spscrazy]

thanks guys! I would have put way more 2x4's on the sides so glad I asked :bigsmile:

 

[jodah175]

Most reefer's have a tendency to overbuild their stands. Not necesarily a bad thing though. But you'd be surprised how little it takes to actually support a tank. As long as the load is transferred down and no screws are in shear, you'll be fine.